Former athletic director at Archbishop Carroll High School headed to jail

COURTHOUSE — Once respected as the athletic director at Archbishop Carroll High School, a now embarrassed Francis Murphy faces the specter of jail for having improper contact with a teenage boy.

A sullen Murphy, 41, of Radnor, was sentenced Thursday in Montgomery County Court to 5-to-23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful contact or communication with a minor and corruption of a minor in connection with Facebook conversations that occurred in April 2011 with a teenage boy who was an ex-student.

President Judge William J. Furber Jr. also ordered Murphy to complete five years’ probation, for a total of nearly seven years of court supervision. Murphy must report to jail on Monday to begin serving the sentence.

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Furber said young people “put their faith and trust” in people like Murphy and that parents shouldn’t have to worry about sending their children to schools or athletic practices. The judge said Murphy violated that trust.

“I understand fully I violated the trust placed in me,” Murphy told the judge before learning his fate. “I should have known better. This incident is clearly a tragic aberration in my life.”

Before taking the job at Archbishop Carroll in 1999, Murphy coached football and baseball at Kennedy Kenrick Catholic High School between 1996 and 1998.

Assistant District Attorney Samantha Cauffman, who leads the district attorney’s sex crimes unit, sought jail time against Murphy, arguing the teenage boy, an 11th grade student, looked to Murphy as a role model as he sought to better himself.

“He targeted a vulnerable kid who needed a male role model in his life. This defendant took advantage of that need to get what he wanted,” Cauffman maintained. “He took that trust and manipulated it and twisted it for his own sexual gain.”

The victim, tearful at times, testified he became distrustful of others and became reclusive after the incidents.

“No matter how hard I tried to stop thinking about it, I couldn’t. I would keep seeing his face,” the victim testified, after which the judge recommended he seek counseling.

The boy’s mother also appeared distraught at times and wiped tears from her eyes as she supported her son in court.

Defense lawyers William Winning and Timothy Woodward argued for a probationary sentence on behalf of Murphy.

Winning characterized Murphy as “a very, very good man” and a highly regarded coach who devoted his life to guiding young athletes and who was once respected by teachers, coaches, athletes and their parents. Winning said Murphy “in the blink of an eye made a very tragic mistake.”

“He lost his career. He will never coach again. What he lost the most is his standing in the community,” Winning argued, adding Murphy lost his home, his savings and now lives with his parents. “All that, judge, is gone. The man has been punished enough. He’s been punished severely.”

Murphy was apprehended in April 2011 after he arrived to pick up the former student at Frosty Falls, an ice cream shop in Bridgeport, expecting a sexual tryst, prosecutors alleged. Murphy, who had been one of the teen’s football coaches, was met by several Montgomery County detectives who arrested him on the spot.

Despite Murphy’s admission to the charges, several former students, including Winning’s son, supported Murphy in court.

“I would describe him as an honorable person. He served as a mentor to me. He taught us how to be teammates, how to be respectful to others,” Winning’s son, Stephen, a father of two, testified. “He made a mistake. I would trust my kids with coach Murphy any day of the week.”

David Brennan, a former vice-principal at Archbishop Carroll, testified he knew Murphy to be a man of “tremendous integrity and honesty.”

The victim, who was leaving Archbishop Carroll to attend Upper Merion High School, met Murphy when he was in football camp in ninth grade, according to authorities. Murphy, who was the offensive coordinator for Carroll’s football team, had recruited the youth to play ball for the Catholic high school.

When the 11th grade student, who had recently left the high school for financial reasons, sent a Facebook request to Murphy asking for the coach’s help in retrieving a pair of cleats left behind in the boy’s old locker, Murphy readily agreed and offered to become the teen’s “Sugar Daddy,” a term the high school athlete didn’t quite understand, according to court papers.

During Facebook conversations, Murphy allegedly made sexually explicit suggestions and offered to buy the teenager gifts in exchange for sexual favors, according to prosecutors. The student, unfamiliar with the term, “sugar daddy,” looked it up and became angry. The teenager told Murphy he was not a female and asked how Murphy could think of him that way, according to the arrest affidavit.

“We should try it out. See how you like it. I will hook you up. Must stay between us,” the athletic director allegedly responded.

The boy subsequently told his mother, who reported the conversations to police. A county detective, who created a new Facebook identity, posed as the boy and continued the communications with Murphy. Prosecutors described the alleged online communications as “extremely graphic.”

After the detective’s first Facebook contact posing as the 11th grader on April 12, Murphy allegedly wasted little time trying to meet the boy in person. Eventually, Murphy set a date to meet and drove to meet the juvenile at 10:30 a.m. April 15 at the ice cream shop. But when he pulled up in the parking lot in his black Saturn expecting to rendezvous with the student, he was met by police and taken into custody.